The lodge
by jc4ever11
Summary: Castle somehow convinces Beckett and the gang to go to the lodge with him, martha and Alexis at Christmas time. What's more romantic than a secluded lodge surrounded by snow? nothing. Teasing,fireplaces, skating...all the cliches hopefully written well enough so they won't seem cliches haha. before Always.
1. Chapter 1

**My first fanfiction in a long while and I must say the other ones were crap haha. I hope you enjoy it and I really hope that you review this so I'll know what I can improve, and if I should continue. Hope you like.**

"Come on Beckett! It's Christmas!" Castle tiredly argued. He was trying to convince Beckett to go with him to his Winter Lodge for Christmas.

"That does not mean that I can have time off. If anything, we get busier!" Kate said getting irritated. Castle didn't want to let this go. She was trying to do some paperwork but Castle wouldn't stop. As much as she gave him excuses, he'll always find an answer…and when he doesn't, he just says that it's Christmas again.

"But Beckett!" Castle whined, "Everyone wants you to come! Alexis has been badgering me to tell you for ages!...you don't want to let Alexis down do you?" He had a slight grin on.

"God, Castle! What about the precinct? Who's going to take care of it if everyone's going to be relaxing at your lodge?!"

"Not everyone! I'm only going to invite Ryan, his wife, Espo and Lanie! Stop making such a big deal out of this. There is a whole precinct that can do your job while you're away. It's only for four days….they'll survive"

"Umm…I don't know…" it came out more as a whisper.

"Fine. Fine. I understand. You don't think you can keep your hand off me for four days. It's ok….I don't mind"

"It's not that you moron. I just want to talk to Lanie first. I'm not coming if she's not coming"

"A challenge!...I like it. Not much of a challenge though, considering the chances of Lanie saying no are very slim….So your safety net has a few holes in it."

"She is not my safety net! I just don't want to be the only female…except for Alexis and Martha of course"

"Okay. No worries. Talk to her" he grinned and stood up from his sit next to her desk.

"Where are you going?" she asked, sensing the movement from under her eyes.

"Well, you're stuck doing paperwork. So I'm going out for a walk"

"emm…okay….see you later then" For a second he thought that there was slight disappointment showing on face but it quickly disappeared so he let it go.

"yeah." He smiled. "Later. I'll bring coffee" and with that he left. When he was in the elevator, he pressed the basement button. The morgue. Even though he was sure that she won't say no, he needed to make sure. He was also certain that she would pick up on the little scheme he was trying to do.

He arrived at the morgue and knocked on the door. He heard Lanie shout. "Come on in loverboy"

"How come it's not writer-boy? How did you know it was me?" He was shocked that she didn't even look up and knew it was him. "Kate texted me saying that she was bored so I knew you weren't next to her." After a few second she continued "this trip down here, doesn't happen to be about the time off at your lodge does it?" she lifted her eyebrow suspiciously.

"Well…..okay here's the thing. She's being difficult. Why won't she just accept some time off? I don't get it! She needs this! And the top it off, She made some excuse about how she'll only go if you do. SO I came here to confirm and stuff….please say yes" with that he put on his puppy dog eyes hoping that it would do its magic for Lanie.

"Castle honey, you know I always say yes to a time off" she answered with a smile. "BUT, you know…we don't want to intrude on the seduction plan you have planned" she smirked. He knew she'd know what he planned.

"There would be nothing to intrude if you don't come apparently!" It just came out. He was desperate.

She looked stunned. She didn't think he would admit to it that easy. He looked worried so he tried to arrange it. "I-I…what-what do you mean?" Hoping that it would work.

"Nah nah nah! You admitted it! You want to get together!" She was just a few vocal waves from shouting. "Well heh fine! Yes okay! How long am I supposed to wait? I mean really. Plus what better way than a romantic lodge at Christmas time."

"I gotta admit hun. You sure know how to make a girl fall for you. Didn't know you were such a romantic" She knew that he was good but not this good. I mean he just explained the perfect holiday for a couple.

"I'm totally a romantic! Where do you think I get all that charm?" he put on that playboy smile, demonstrating his 'charm' to Lanie.

"That doesn't work for me anymore since I got to know you a bit better" giving her attention to the dead victim on the table.

"What?! Why not?" it came out as a high pitched sound. He was worried that he lost his touch.

"Nah you're Kate's boy now. She'll be here soon so you better go"

"Well, not yet. Remember you're coming!" He started walking to the door and right after he was on the other side he shouted "AND IT'S MAN!"

Lanie chuckled. _He's good for Kate. He's fun. She needs that._


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for the reviews and follows! Was not expecting any of them. Love you guys already haha. I'm really sorry it took so long but I got stuck with a lot of school deadlines and I was freaking out, doing a lot of all-nighters and stuff. I will try that if I continue to get good reviews, I will try to post a chapter a week. Anyway, I forgot to put a declaimer in the other chapter, so here it is.**

**Characters are not mine! They belong to abc and Andrew Marlowe. **

**haha Enjoy.**

Around 20 minutes have passed since Castle left the morgue and Lanie was wondering if Kate would ever show up. She knew that Kate needed to loosen up and this trip would be the perfect way. It's not that Kate has a stick up her backside or anything, 'cause Lanie sure knows the true Kate Beckett and she was far from the quite, strict person Kate made herself to appear at the precinct. Defiantly not. If only she could show Castle that. She does flirt (somewhat) and hint about her crazy life outside of the precinct but for some reason she couldn't let herself open up to Castle. Lanie's guess is that Castle means something special to her and she doesn't want to scare him away with her tattoo story or her piercings or her wild teenage years.

There was a knock on the door and Lanie let the girl in.

"Lanie listen. We need to talk" Kate seemed nervous and worried.

"Girl, what's wrong?" Lanie got suddenly confused.

"I'm scared. I don't want to go" Lanie assumed she was talking about the lodge.

"What do you mean you don't want to go? Why? I mean what could possibly be so scary about going to a lodge with your friends on Christmas?" Lanie gave a 'don't be ridiculous' look.

Kate, for the first time, letting it sink in about what she was actually going to do if she went to the lodge. "I….don't know…." She looked very thoughtful. She was so worked up about not wanting to spend the week at Castle's lodge that she didn't really think that she was not going to be alone with him. Even though she brought up the excuse about Lanie.

"Then why are you complaining girl?" Lanie said in a loud voice. Kate was getting more ridiculous by the second these days.

The only words that came out of Beckett were the same as before. "I don't know…"

"why don't you want to go to the lodge with him anyway? If it were anyone else, you wouldn't think twice."

"That's just it! He isn't anyone else. He's him! He's Richard Freaking Castle! The playboy billionaire!" Kate's words were beginning to get louder. She wasn't sure herself what the problem actually was, because Lanie's right. If it were someone else, She would make such a big deal about it.

"I _still_ don't get why you got your panties in a bunch. So what if his a playboy billionaire? He's also your favourite writer of all time and he's also completely smitten with you. You should be on cloud nine right now singing with angels right now! I have no idea why you're hiding these feelings you clearly have for him and not letting him shower you with love_, which_ by the way, is very obvious that that's what he wants to do." She was starting to get frustrated now. Castle was perfect for her and she wasn't going to see her best friend not be happy for one more second.

" I don't have feelings for him!— "

" no! okay no! I'm going to stop you right there! THAT is a complete lie! You know it, and so does everyone else!"

"He's arrogant- "

"he's charming."

"Self centered-"

"manly."

"a 5-year old on a sugar rush!"

"FUN!"

Kate turned silent.

"listen Kate. No one is going to force you into going but there is no reason why you shouldn't." Lanie calmed down and tried to explain to her best friend.

"what if something happens between us?" Kate asked feeling a bit worried.

"would that be such a bad thing?"

"Yes!...no….i don't know!"

"Kate. No one else is here. It's just me. You can open up to me!"

"okay, maybe if something happens it won't be the end of the world…"

"was that so hard?"

"no" Kate laughed. In a way, it was like a weight has been lifted. She would never admit out loud that she likes the writer, she would never need to anyway. It's not like he likes her back, unlike what Lanie thinks. He didn't like real. He liked models and actresses. He likes double Ds' and blonde bimbos.

"Thanks Lanie. I'm glad we talked. I feel better now…emm…I should go though. You know, work and stuff."

"okay hun. I'll talk to you later then." Lanie smiled. She could feel something's going to happen between her best friend and the writer and that's not just because she likes to be a matchmaker.

Kate smiled and walked off. Once out of the morgue, she decided to text Castle. She was feeling a bit excited for this trip but he didn't need to know that. Sometimes it was just fun to make him think that she's irritated with him.

She sends the text.

_I'm coming. _

**So that's chapter two. I'm interested to know what you wanted to read in this story. Like what kind of moments would you want to read. If you tell me that would be very helpful because I'm having a bit of a slight block considering it isn't anywhere near Christmas now haha. Anyway. Thanks so much for reading. I hope you liked it. Reviews are always welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Was going to post this sooner but I thought I should check it more and stuff. I am amazed at the amount of people following this story! And in such a short period of time too. I love every single one of you! I appreciate all of the comments! I'm going to personally reply to every one of them soon so you will get some answers to the questions you have.**

**Someone asked me in which season this was set since they aren't together. I had to think about this to be honest. When I first started writing the story, I didn't have any season in mind. I just was so bored of the post-always stories going round that I decided that there should be a fun story out there without any angst of post shooting. I would say this story is based around season 3, somewhere after TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA but not after KNOCKOUT. **

**Sorry for the long A.N. on with the story!**

When Kate arrived back at the precinct, she found Castle talking to the boys while playing what she assumed was angry birds on his phone. He had a big smile on his face. God she found that cute. His smile made him look like a 5 year old on Christmas. It was amazing how he had so many looks just by his facial expressions.

Espo must have saw her because he said something to Castle while doing a slight nod towards the elevator. Castle turned and his smile grew bigger. Can she really do that to him? He jumped off from the chair he was sitting in and rushed towards her.

"so…..you're coming then?" His smile was genuine but she could see he was still a bit worried, thinking she was playing a joke on him and getting his hopes up.

"yeah I'm coming Castle." She gave him a slight smile of her own.

"Great! You won't regret it! This is going to be so much more fun now that you're coming!" If they were alone she's sure he would be jumping up and down right now. He excitedly started typing frantically on his phone. She was about to ask when he stopped her.

"well, you have to come to the loft for dinner tonight!" He stated like it was the most obvious thing.

"I don't know Castle. I don't want to intrude." She looked down, rubbing her arm slightly worried. Martha and Alexis were great but she didn't know how they felt about her.

"you won't! mother told me to tell you herself" he really wanted her to come. He and his mother really did think alike. Martha really liked Kate. They haven't met a lot of times but Martha could see that she was good for Rick. Even though she puts him in danger more times than she can count.

After seeing that Kate still felt conscious, he put his hand next to his mouth like he was about to tell her a secret and he said in a loud whisper "….don't worry she's not cooking." This made Kate laugh slightly and she looked up to him smiling broadly "well if you sure I won't intrude."

"I'm sure" he smiled warmly at her.

"then I'll come" her smile still in place.

"great! Okay be there around 7." He stated while walking backwards towards the elevator.

"I'll be there." Still looking, feeling slightly giddy, sitting down.

"I'll be waiting" he smirked as the elevator doors closed, making him disappear.

She couldn't help the slight giggle that come out of her mouth.

"wow! Beckett giggling. I think Castle left too soon." Esposito smirked, slowly walking to Kate's desk.

"oh shut up. It wasn't a giggle. AND it wasn't because of Castle. I just remembered something." She wasn't convincing enough. She was sure, and she couldn't look them in the eye.

"oh yeah? What did you remember?" He knew she was lying.

Kate said nothing. She couldn't after all. She was trying to think funny things but none came to mind.

"yeah that's what I thought. Chillax Kate. It's just me."

Ryan walked in a second later and went to Kate's desk.

"hey what's going on?"

"Katie's gotta crush" Esposito automatically exclaimed, pouting.

"speaking of which, where _is_ Castle anyway?"

Esposito laughed and started to walk away.

Blushing, Kate still said nothing, shaking her head.

**So another chapter done. Did you like? Did you hate? Please tell me because this is your story as it is mine haha that's why it's called fanfiction. Made from fans. Is there something I can improve? Are the characters a bit AU? 'cause that's my worst fear. Anyway. This was going to be a longer chapter but I didn't want it to be super long so I'm breaking this chapter into 3 parts. Next chapter will be uploaded as soon as it's written, which won't be long because I already have a clear idea what I want for the next chapter. **

**As always, I look forward to hear from you guys, and I'll see you next chapter :D**


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